Mystery In The Woods
by xfirefly9x
Summary: Brennan/Booth, Squints. A boy is found in the woods with no signs of being murdered, but the evidence says otherwise. What will Brennan, Booth and the Squints find out? And what happened to the other victims?
1. Contradictions

**A/N:** My first ever attempt at Bones fanfic! Hope you like! And a huge thanks to avaleighfitzgerald for helping out with this!

**Mystery In The Woods**

Doctor Temperance Brennan stood hunched over the remains of a fleshless skeleton. From what she could tell it was a male, perhaps 16 or 17 years old who had died of natural causes. His remains held no sign that suggested murder, however Brennan wasn't prepared to drop the case quite yet.

Normally it would be easy to eliminate the different scenarios and get straight to the point but there was something different about this one. It didn't look like a murder according to the skeletal remains, but every other piece of evidence pointed in that direction.

The skeleton had, after all, been found only a day earlier in the forest and the lack of flesh on the bones when it – no, when _he_ – was found, also led Brennan to believe that something was off. Using various techniques, they'd worked out that the boy had died a year earlier.

It seemed very unlikely that the boys' disappearance would have gone unnoticed for so long by his parents or his friends and even if a police report had been made, the boy should've been found ages ago. Something was definitely off.

Brennan could feel it in her bones.

"Bones!" called a friendly, deep voice, interrupting her from her thoughts. "Hey!"

Brennan glanced up to see her well-built FBI partner, Special Agent Seeley Booth standing nearby. "Hey," she replied, smiling at him distractedly. "What's up?"

Booth shrugged. "Nothing much, actually. I was just wondering if you want to come by to Wong Fu's when you're done here?" He watched her as she focused back on the skeleton in front of her.

"Maybe. I don't know if I'll be finished for a while though," Brennan finally answered. "This case is a lot more complicated than I'd hoped."

"Why? What's wrong?" Booth asked curiously. He moved closer and peered over her shoulder at the skeleton.

"This boys' skeleton displays no definite signs that suggest murder," Brennan started. "Yet all of the evidence, excepting the lab work, states the opposite."

"Huh. Well, that's a drag."

Brennan rolled her eyes wearily and continued working. "You know you can go if you want to, don't you Booth?"

"Are you trying to tell me something?" Booth shot her an amused look as she glanced up at him again.

"No," she said wryly. "I just thought you wanted to go out or something. And I work better alone, anyway."

Booth shrugged and gestured towards the door. "Well, you know where I am if you want to join me." He paused and watched as the anthropologist turned back to her work yet again, obviously thinking that he was going to leave her alone now.

"I'd really like to see you there," he pushed, chancing it. "Do you think you can come?"

Brennan stopped for what felt like the millionth time and looked up to meet his hopeful gaze. "Fine. I'll be there," she told him, a little reluctantly. "Give me ten minutes."

Booth grinned and slapped her playfully on the shoulder. "I knew you'd come through!"


	2. Another Body

Booth watched impatiently as Brennan finished up with the boys' skeleton and placed a large tarp over it for protection. He watched as she replaced her equipment and followed her when she headed to the sink to wash her hands.

"You don't have to follow me everywhere, Booth," she told him, raising an eyebrow. "I'll meet you out front in a second."

"I wasn't – " he protested weakly as she moved off again towards her office. Sighing, he continued to watch after her until she was out of view and then headed out to the foyer to wait.

Booth stayed in the foyer for several minutes and was just about to give up on Brennan when she appeared by his side, breathless. "Wow, Bones. You look like you just ran the triathlon or something. Is everything okay?" He peered down at her curiously, noticing how flushed she looked. Something was up.

"Sorry," she said apologetically. "There was a phone call from an Officer Reyes? Apparently we have another body coming in within the hour. I should probably stay…" She looked to Booth for approval, smiling gratefully when he nodded.

"Okay, that'll be a rain check on dinner then," he said with a half smile. "Do you want me to hang around for a bit or are you fine here?"

Brennan shrugged. "I'm fine. You go ahead." She paused. "Maybe I'll drop by later if I have time."

"Sure. See you tomorrow then," Booth said with a smile. He patted the anthropologist gently on the shoulder and left.

Brennan watched as he went and sighed. She had really been looking forward to dinner at Wong Fu's and now this new case had come up. Out of all the days it could happen it had to be today, when she had other plans that didn't involve investigating skeletons. Talk about bad timing!

She returned to her office after awhile and slumped into her chair at the desk, losing herself to the countless thoughts that flooded her mind. There was so much going on lately it wasn't funny. Firstly, there was the skeleton of the teenage boy and the unusual conditions that surrounded his death.

Secondly, she had been having nightmares for about 3 nights running and was running on caffeine and not much sleep at all. It was beginning to affect her work, which was never a good sign. She had been planning on going home early to get in some extra sleep, but now she had to stay back for the second skeleton to come in.

Sighing wearily, she closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair. She had just gotten comfortable when a sharp knock at her office door startled her back to reality. Glancing up, she saw a tall, blond man wearing a sky-blue police uniform with a couple of merit badges pinned to the shoulder.

He was ruggedly handsome and had the most intense blue eyes that she had ever seen. Definitely cute, she thought absentmindedly. "Officer Daniel Reyes," he introduced himself, walking into the room and extending his hand.

Brennan smiled and stood up, meeting him by the desk and shaking his hand. "Dr. Temperance Brennan," she said, smiling. "Nice to meet you."

"And you," came the reply. Reyes winked at her and then gestured behind him back towards the lab area, suddenly serious. "Anyway, the body was found at 18:00 in the same forest as the last, by…" he flipped open a notebook and scanned the page quickly "…Charles Denison. A homicide, I'd say."

"How do you know?" Brennan asked, intrigued.

Reyes smiled grimly. "I think you'll see how once you've seen the remains."

**A/N: So? How am I going with this? Everyone liking it so far?**


	3. Connections

Sure enough, when Reyes led Brennan out to view the skeleton she was able to see the damage immediately. There was an indent in the skull that suggested that the victim had been hit with a heavy, blunt object and the wrist was broken in such a way that it was almost definitely inflicted by another human.

Other such marks were scattered over the rest of the skeleton and after slipping on some protective gear and studying them for a couple of minutes, Brennan was certain that it was indeed a homicide. She commented on her findings as she worked, glancing up only when she was finished.

"This was definitely a murder," she confirmed, sliding off her latex gloves and placing them on the tabletop. She paused for another moment to recollect her thoughts. "How far away from the other victim did you say he was found?"

Reyes shrugged. "About half a mile, I'd say. Maybe a little less. Why do you ask?" He looked confused. "Didn't the other victim die of natural causes?" Brennan opened her mouth to respond, but he interrupted before she had a chance. "You don't think that the deaths are connected somehow, do you?"

Finally, he went quiet and Brennan was able to answer. "There were no signs of trauma on his remains that I could see, but that doesn't have to mean that he died naturally. I'll get Zach to clean the bones in case I missed something, but I doubt that it will show anything more than I've already seen. He – "

"So what do you think caused it then?" Reyes interrupted again. He scratched his head dumbly and looked at her expectantly.

"As I was about to say, I have some theories, but I want to look into them further before I reveal anything," she replied, avoiding a direct answer. "I'll call you when I find out more."

Reyes shrugged. "Yeah, okay," he said offhandedly. He scrambled in his pocket for something, pulling out a small business card. "Here's my number. Just give me a ring when you're ready."

Brennan accepted the card, nodding. "Sure." She watched as the officer left, turning back to wink at her just before he moved out of sight and then let out a big sigh. Just when she thought things couldn't get any worse, they did.

Not only did she have a victim that appeared to have died naturally against all of the evidence, she now had another who had definitely been murdered. And brutally, at that. Were their deaths connected somehow? Did they know each other? What were they doing in the forest in the first place?

There were too many questions. Leaving the skeletons to lie in peace in the lab, Brennan headed to her office and slumped into her chair wearily. She closed her eyes and let her mind wander over the facts.

Victim one. Male. Name unknown. Aged approximately 16 to 17 years old. No sign of trauma to quantify murder. Evidence says otherwise.

Victim two. Male. Also unidentified. Aged approximately 16 or 17 years old. Signs of extreme trauma. Definitely a murder.

There was nothing to give concrete evidence that the victims' deaths were related, but everything in Brennan yelled that she was missing something. What was the connection? And if there was, were the two boys that had been brought in the only victims?


	4. In The Woods

**A/N: Finally, another chapter! Let me know what you think please!**

**Chapter 4**

After awhile, Brennan cleaned everything up in the lab, reorganised some of the files on her desk and grabbed a few to take with her, and then left the office. There was no more that she could do at work until the morning in her current state, after all. If she stayed any longer she'd most likely collapse of exhaustion.

Too tired to face Booth and his usual rowdiness, she got in her car and headed straight for home, forgoing her previously desired dinner at Wong Foo's. It took less time than normal to get to her apartment, due to the late hour and smaller number of people out on the streets. The usual traffic congestion of the city was nigh on absent, leaving Brennan a clear and fast drive through.

Reaching her street, she pulled up and parked her car in its usual spot, locking it behind her and walking slowly to her apartment. She didn't bother bringing up any files with her and left them in the car instead. Unless the nightmares plagued her again, she was planning on using the next few hours to catch up on some much needed sleep.

She arrived at her front door and let herself in, closing the door and moving straight into the kitchen to get a glass of water. Taking it with her, she walked dazedly to her room. She placed the glass on the bedside table before collapsing wearily onto the thick comforter on her bed.

No sooner had she gotten comfortable, did she fall asleep.

_She was in the woods. It was night and the only source of light was the luminescent glow of the full moon above and the pinpricks of radiance that were the stars. Around her, trees and bushes grew in thick clumps that surrounded her and threatened to suffocate her._

_A narrow break in the woods to her right gave way to a clearing, where a group of teenagers were assembled, perhaps 8 or 9 in all. She moved closer to get a better look, eventually making out a small bonfire in the centre of them along with a gnarled old tree stump covered in candles and other ritualistic items._

_Magick of the black variety immediately came to mind. She herself had participated in similar rituals when she was their age. She knew how stupid and immature it was from experience. The whole thing was imaginative and only resulted in an irrational fear of the unknown, which was in no way as fulfilling as one might expect it to be._

_One of the teens spoke up suddenly, his voice cascading harmoniously over the crackling of the fire and the rustling of leaves in the wind. It was then that she realised that it wasn't just a dream: she was reliving one her past experiences. The voice belonged to Tray Coleridge, former friend whom she had met in high school._

_She hadn't been close to Tray, but they had talked a bit and it had been him who had convinced her to join in the ritualistic act those many years earlier. Tuning back into the dream, she strained her ears to hear what the teen had to say._

_Despite her best efforts, the best she could make out was a string of words including 'demons', 'magick', 'darkness' and 'death'. The last word stung through her chest and she fought the fear that was threatened to take over her and clouding her judgement in the process._

_She glanced around to see if there was any way for her to get closer. There wasn't, unless she revealed herself to the teenagers. She wasn't ready to do that. Sighing, she brushed her hands against her jeans, as if to shake off the fear and her curiosity._

_She felt something sticky cover her fingers and immediately pulled back. When she brought her hands up in front of her face, there was blood all over them._

Brennan woke with a start and jostled out of bed, her eyes darting nervously around her room. It had darkened considerably since she'd fallen asleep and the last light of day was barely visible through her curtains. She glanced over at her alarm clock, the flashing red numbers glaring evilly back at her. 4:30 am.

Shaking off the last of her fear and convincing herself that nothing was wrong, she pulled herself up. There was really no point in trying to go back to sleep after that. She knew that it would be pointless to even try. Wiping her eyes tiredly, she made her way to the kitchen and picked up the phone.


End file.
